I'm such a fan of Lily's Tomlin, for so many years. I feel like Lily was the first popular mainstream crossover comedian who also was kind of an overtly feminist comedian.
When you hang around a lot of comedians long enough, you realize there's a certain gene, in every comedian. It's why we get hyper-analytical about things.
Molly Shannon and I used to always talk about that we really felt strongly that we were comedic actors, that we weren't comedians. You just played things real and the comedy came out of the context.
I don't think I was a good comedian.
You have to understand how bad I wanted to be a comedian, how much I loved doing it. I still can't believe I get to do this for a living and have people come up and want to see me.
Louis C. K. is one of my all time favorite standup comedians.
Magicians are definitely more arrogant. They're kind of like "Abra Kadabra, you're an idiot," they don't let you in on the joke. Comedians, you're always in on the joke unless it's Andy Kaufman.
If you watch the arcs of so many comedians, at some point, they just become themselves.
I don't get all the anger that is thrown at comedians.
I'm a good counter comedian. I can just work it off with looks, or have something crazy to say back. That works for me.
Black comics, they only watch Black comedians. You're a comedian; you're not just a Black comedian. You're a comedian. I try to get that through to everybody.
I am a comedian and I started in stand-up when I was 22.
If I get big laughs, I'm a comedian. If I get little laughs, I'm a humorist. If I get no laughs, I'm a singer.
When somebody mangles one of my jokes, that bothers me more than somebody saying that I'm the worst comedian ever.
That's the thing that most people don't realize. In real life, comedians aren't funny. They save it. They save it up.
Funny bones, to me, are more important than funny lines. If a comedian is just not likable and doing the lines, you could read them yourself. Whereas if someone [you like] shambles out, and they tell you what a bad day they've had, they don't have to say anything. I love them. I want to hug them because they've been through something. And it comes back to empathy, always empathy.
I'm not a political comedian. That's just not what I do.
Comedians, we're just people who whine. But we happen to be funny when we whine.
What I like about stand-up is, it's truthful. I'm not up there trying to get laid or look cool. I'm up there because I really love it, and it makes people happier.
Without the laughs, the audience wouldn't be there at all, so in that sense, yes, I am a comedian.